Strasbourg, 18 April 2011- A delegation of the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) carried out a visit to Georgia from 11 to 14 April 2011 in order to prepare its first monitoring report on the fight against human trafficking in this country.

This was the eighth country visit carried out in the context of the first round of evaluation of the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. This round was launched in February 2010 when GRETA addressed a questionnaire to the first 10 Parties to the Convention: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and the Slovak Republic.

During the visit, the GRETA delegation held meetings with Zurab ADEISHVILI, Minister of Justice and Chairman of the Interagency Co-ordination Council on Measures against Trafficking in Persons; Irakli GIORGOBIANI, First Deputy Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs; Tamar MARTIASHVILI, First Deputy Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from Occupied Territories; Ekaterine ZGULADZE, First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs; Sergi KAPANADZE, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Irine KURDADZE, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Giorgi VASHADZE, Deputy Minister of Justice, and with other senior officials from relevant ministries and public bodies. The GRETA delegation also met Rusudan KERVALISHVILI, Deputy Chairwoman of the Parliament of Georgia, as well as other Members of Parliament. The GRETA delegation also met the Public Defender, Giorgi TUGUSHI and members of his office. Further, discussions were held with representatives of the International Organisation for Migration, the International Labour Organisation and members of non-governmental organisations active in combating trafficking in human beings and protecting human rights. In addition, the GRETA delegation visited accommodation facilities for victims of trafficking.

The visit was carried out by Davor DERENCINOVIC, Second Vice-President of GRETA and Louise CALLEJA, member of GRETA, who were accompanied by Carolina LAS…N DIAZ of the Anti-Trafficking Secretariat.

On the basis of the information gathered during the visit and the Georgian authoritiesí reply to the questionnaire, GRETA will prepare a draft report containing its analysis of the implementation of the Convention by Georgia, as well as suggestions for possible improvement and further action. This draft report shall be transmitted to the Georgian authorities for comments before GRETA prepares its final report, which will be made public along with eventual comments by the Government.